ORIGIN

eBay Project Car Update #16: Neighborhood Laps and Interior Finishing

Time is flying, but so is the progress on the eBay Project Car. We want to call it 99% complete, but the to-do list still seems to fill up our garage white-board. We’ve made huge leaps forward in the interior, and the exterior is now complete apart from fitting the polished windshield trim. The shot below shows the car a couple weeks ago, and rocker trim and exhaust tips have since been added.

Though the majority of what remains is testing and tuning the systems to work together, there are still some components that need to be purchased. Our next decision is over seat belts. Our car came with some brand new universal-fit belts, but they are too long so the buckle ends up against the console. They need to go, or be shortened, which nobody local seems thrilled to do.

Check out what has recently been installed in the photos below, and help us pick out the seat belts and other final details before we officially hit the road.

We didn’t realize how bad our previous carpet was until we ordered this beautiful, brand new complete black carpet set and installed it over the sound deadener with 3M spray adhesive. We were going to farm this out to a pro, but the pieces fit very well and we ended up doing it ourselves. It is just GM-spec nylon carpet, but it really looks great in such fresh condition. Over this we decided to add this correct original 1963-only aluminum console and shift boot retainer. These are old genuine GM parts, and our car came with the later and weaker looking 1964 pieces. The parts fit around our 5-speed shifter perfectly.

After much debate in our Project Update #13 over what kind of interior sound deadening to use, if any, we did decide to completely cover the inside of the car with this Dynamat Xtreme sound deadening from eBay. It took us five boxes of the stuff, but we are glad that we went with the medium size sheets instead of the bulk sheets because ours were the perfect size for contouring around the interior surfaces. Then in the footwells and along the exhaust path, we added a layer of this Dynamat Dynaliner for heat protection. We’ll report on how the combination works out.

Outside, one of our final pieces to install is this new front grille. We found an interesting custom front grille with no bumper bracket cut-outs, but it looked too resto-mod, and even though the holes remain empty given our bumperless look, this is how the early race cars and Mickey Thompson’s own driver Z06 looked, so we went with stock. We have no complaints on the aesthetic now that we have it installed.

Last of all, we have been looking for a way to adapt the stock-style stainless parking brake cables that we purchased a couple months ago to our rear disk brakes, but have had no luck. We finally just put them on the shelf and ordered a set of these Lokar parking brake cables which we can cut to length and customize to any end configuration. They look great and we finally have a working hand brake and correct linkage routing.

Check out the video below of the car in motion a couple weeks ago. That was before the carpet or the grille. For those of you worried by the puff of oil smoke in the previous video, we ask you to please scrutinize this one. ;) We’ve still got plenty of issues to resolve, but oil smoke isn’t one of them. Notice that the windows and trim and all the exterior details apart from rockers and grille are installed.

We only approximated the alignment for testing thus far, so now the car goes to Custom Alignment in Mountain View, California early next week to be made perfect. They are the best in the business and have done many road and racing Corvettes. Check out our Fiickr album of the latest photos both here and in the slide-show below:

Stay tuned for more updates, and please give us your feedback in the comments. Monterey is three weeks away… will we see you there? How do we decide who gets to drive it? And what else should we buy on eBay to make the car look and perform great during Car Week?

Thanks!

The eBay Project Car is a 1963 Chevrolet Corvette that was purchased on eBay by BaT, and will be sorted and eventually sold at auction on eBay. This is the first project car on Bring a Trailer sponsored exclusively by eBay, and more details on the progress can be found here in the Project Overview Page and here in the project update features!

buckets in the 60s were precisely that–pails with a modicum of back support ( and no lateral/neck support whatever) what put your thigh bottoms to sleep on a run to the supermarket;

they were designed for nostalgia, not safety, so clash most beautifully with any safety devices like roll bars–thus became a principal cause for the advent of the longer C3 bodies on the midyear frames in 1968 (don’t get mad at me, thank Ralph Nader and the failure of GM to capitalise on its skunk works Chapparal racing programme to develop a more suitable solution);

the only practical answer is to adopt the much reviled C3 seats from 1978 or later, or Corbeaus or something of that nature;

I highly recommend taking the time to install 3-point retractable belts all around. I installed these on my ’64 Bel Air and though it involved a bit of welding on the B- and C-pillars and some creative routing of the back seat belts, the extra feeling of security is well worth it. Especially if you plan on carrying passengers whose tolerance of risk may be lower than your own.

.I’m with those who vote against the roll bar and for original style belts.though those seats are going to send all those but the most amply derriere endowed sliding………so maybe Simpsons would keep the bonier among us pinned to the seat as we slide around the driveway into the A&W…..

3 pointers. Originality is pointless, and it is the smart choice. I read the comments, and don’t see anyone claiming to have been in an accident that would choose anything else. Let the lap belts sit with those apparently lucky enough to have never been hurt in a car wreck.

After 2 accidents, one a rollover I could not imagine wanting to own that car without 3 pointers and actually put miles on it.

I don’t care if it ends up a garage toy, it only take being about 15 feet out of your driveway to get killed in the thing.

90 comments in a row about seat belts. Don’t see that very often. I love the car so far; great choices have been made. And the level of detail in getting everything done well is impressive. Very exciting to see and hear the car on the street, I got goosebumps. That is a badass car. Sign me up for a test drive.

I did 4 points on my Elan with a Spyder roll bar, thinking I was going the safe route. With the stock seats, the lap belt never quite fit right, so I always wondered what would happen in a crash. Thankfully, I never had to find out.

I also had some re-webbed original Lotus 3-point belts that used Kangol magnetic (!) hardware. I never fitted them, as it just didn’t seem to be robust.

In retrospect, I would have gone with modern inertia reel 3-point belts, as I think that they would have fit better in a crash then the 4 point ones I bought and would have been a lot easier to use.

Safety is your top priority over originality in my opinion. These cars are death traps in comparison to any modern car sold today, so upgrades like fuel cells and modern safety belts are cheap insurance.

@Alain Pusay– Thank you for the interesting tip about a three-point option for 1967. I found the detailed writeup below.

Looking at photos of installations (thank you gain, Google), it seems that it’s challenging to get a three-point belt’s top anchor point high enough to avoid spinal compression in a crash. That’s something to think about.

Also introduced in limited quantities for 1966 was a shoulder-belt option, and only 37 cars were ordered with it for the model year. The option was introduced around VIN 15000. The buckle portion of the shoulder harness was attached to a plate riveted to each rear wheelwell. All cars with the shoulder-harness option have this special plate. Some cars could have the plate but not the shoulder-harness option.

In late 1966 and through 1967, another seatbelt-buckle design was used. These new buckles had a satin stainless steel finish with a recessed button. Again, a blue Bowtie was centered in the button with the word “Chevrolet” inscribed. The rest of the button was semigloss black. Early production cars up through VIN 100 might have the Fisher Body Carriage logo in the center of the release button. All seatbelt colors were coordinated with the carpet color of the car. This seatbelt webbing matches the multi-latitudinal webbing from 1965. There was also a new seatbelt tag that provided the date of manufacture such as “19 E 67″ which decoded as the 19th week of 1967. Model C-10 denotes lap belts, while C-20 denotes a shoulder harness. From all indications, Hamill was the sole manufacturer of the seatbelts in 1967.

The shoulder-belt option continued for 1967, and 1,426 cars were ordered with the option. The buckle portion of the shoulder harness was attached to a plate riveted to each rear wheelwell. All cars with the shoulder-harness option have this special plate. As in 1966, some cars could have the plate but not the shoulder-harness option.

Properly engineered 3-point retro fit. Safer by vast margin. And also much more convenient than lap belts, so you and your passengers will always use them.

The whole idea that 3-points will diminish the value seems a nonsense, especially as it is already modified from stock. If you had a one-off Bugatti entered in Pebble Beach, maybe, but in the real world…

Owning a 63 SWC and vintage racing it and another car I can answer the question on if a roll bar can be added and not hit your head on it in a street car. No. You might be able to get your head low enough with the seat tracks removed and it bolted to the floor but with no headrest the exercise is somewhat wothless and side motion will probably cause an impact with head and cross bar anyway.

The cockpit on all the 60’s sports cars I have owned is very small compared to todays cars. And the Vette is even smaller. I have a HANS(halo) seat in my 63 and it barely fit. Had to move the driver side forward tube of the cage out into the door. Looks cool but required a mandrel bender to make it happen.

Most old cars for street driving are a problem. I feel pretty safe in mine with a full cage, HANS device and halo seat. Not sure I would drive one on the street with any of the options presented. Would feel safer in mine on the track.

If you value your life and your handsome face, the choice is somewhere north of a three point system. If you really value your life and are really vain, then you need at least a four point or 5 point set up for fast driving.

Your Corvette is quite a dangerous car in a heavy crash. (Of course the same may be said of almost all cars of its vintage. Being impaled on your Impala and all those Naderisms.)

You could take the tack that you have the “Right Stuff”, plus a hard working Guardian Angel, so you would never need even a lap belt.

My late Mexican neighbour used to proudly brag that he had never used a seat belt. With his, and other Mexican’s driving style, the result was preordained. Machismo sentenced him to death.

For myself, having survived uninjured, a 7 times inverted roll down a steep mountainside, while belted into a very strong car, I would go for a roll bar with all the belts I could buckle within one minute. What else do you have to do after start-up, while watching the oil pressure gauge climb? To hell with originality, or convenience.

I don’t know how much trouble and damage 3-point belts might require; but that would probably be my first choice (given how many miles I’d want to put on this car). If you pass on that idea, the repro belts or the Simpsons a close third look like the best option to me. Tough call b/t the two. The Simpsons are pretty understated and not too boy-racer-ish.

After reading the comments, I’m even more strongly in favor of the 3-pointers. Both Nimrod and Alain Pusay offer excellent suggestions. I know they’re not on eBay; but project or no, belts are not an area to skimp on.

Kinda off topic : When I set up my XK120 for vintage racing I had to fabricate some solid mounting points for the belts and harness. Prior to that the lap belts were simply bolted to the wooden floorboards!! My wife said that just insured that the seat would stay strapped to your butt as you flew through the air!

Lookin’ really good! After the ’57 conv., the split-window is the best looking Vet IMHO.

Personally I would go with four point Simpson belts. A lot safer and better looking than the stock style. A shoulder level bar behind the seats can serve as a mounting point without the stated dangers of a roll bar above your head. Although, upside down in the fiberglass body one would be thankful for a roll bar! Some careful design work might avoid head contact but retain the advantage of the roll bar.

I have later model 3 point retractables installed in my 1966 Porsche 912. The belts are genuine Porsche and the mounting duplicates the late model, including the shoulder harness mount. No one has EVER mentioned the “non-authenticity” of these belts. I’m sure that you can figure out something similar for the ‘Vette. Racing lap belts are no better than standard. Racing harnesses are problematic to install. They are not U.S. DOT approved for street use. You could do a lap belt AND the three point retractable. Be safe.

Just browsing through the lap belts seem to be the only option if you’re trying to get rid of your daughters boyfriend so you toss him the keys tell him have fun and then order your daughter to go empty the dishwasher.

@Other Max – I don’t know if they make them for older Vettes, but harness bars are readily available for some models (like 911s) that are commonly tracked. These bars span the sides of the car behind the front seat. They offer no roll over protection, but provide points for mounting a racing harness.

Just out of curiosity, is it possible to mount a hoop bar in such a way that your head can’t smack it? Also, is it even possible to get a decent mounting point for a hoop that would deal with the forces involved in a crash. I’d worry about a hoop + 3-point seatbelt setup compromising the seatbelt by introducing a bad mounting point into the mix. Seems like the forces on the hoop would be transferred back to the mounting points at the floor almost like a big breaker bar.

Anyway, I’ve never had to deal with the issue myself – but +1 to safety upgrades. If memory serves, you opted for a 4-wheel disc conversion for safety…

The only viable, safe and money-well-spent option is the three-point retractable system suggested by several posters. Please heed their posts.

A three-point retractable seat-belt system will only enhance its function without materially harming form. Two points are simply not a good idea.

Option 1. ) No. The Simpsons may be marginally better than the stock set up, but they look “old-school wanna-be.” They will reduce use of any belt (especially by a passenger). And in the end, they are nothing more than a slightly more secure two-point set up. Don’t waste your money.

Option 2.) No. Though this option offers the best ROI for re-sale, they are still two-point and sanity suggests avoiding them.

Option 3.) No. Originality may thrill a judge or two, but BaT didn’t build a trailer-queen, you built something meant to be driven. The mantra of “original or die” is not tattooed on this project. Why waste money on this? It is senseless. In the end it still a poorly designed two-point.

Roll cages (as pointed out by several posters) make no sense in this project. They may increase structural rigidity, but they present very real points of impact for a non-helmeted driver or passenger. Unless you are building a track car it is wasted effort.

911wagon: Thank you for your powerful story. I think I speak for all of us (even those who suggest that we are all sissies for opting for much safer, reasonably inexpensive and nice-looking 3-point retractables) when I say I am sorry for what you and your wife have been through. I hope your story brings some sanity to BaT on this small but very important choice.

Steve (P): Thank you for hammering it home.

GO THREE-POINT.

Three-points work pretty well to stop forward motion on impact (and the dental and plastics necessary to rebuild a face if you survive the chest trauma after slamming into the wheel or dash), positive locks keep you in place, but the snap-back and whip-lash is part of the component design attendant to well designed 3-point systems. BaT may want to consider maybe possibly considering some sort of headrest.

Can avoid the “blue-flame out-both ends” posts about adding airbags too when I humbly suggest “thinking” about it.

By the way – wonderful build. The quality and thought going into it are inspiring. Thank you for opting for function but always managing to keep essential form in place (the stock aluminum center console being a perfect example as well as the decision to avoid side pipes and use a stock grill).

Regarding safety and seatbelts.. I wouldn’t modify any seatbelt, just get the correct one. Also, any of the modern belts are going to be better than the originals, so safety is improved right there. Since seatbelts were optional on most cars before 1968, not much thought was put into them before that.

Old cars are not as safe as new cars, and they never will be. It all depends on one’s personal safety tollerance and how you plan to drive it. You could start out with authentic style belts, more appropriate for show and originality, then switch later to better ones if y0u find you are driving the car a lot or at high speeds and become more concerned with safety. Sometimes these decisions are better left to later, after you get used to the car.

The car looks spectacular, as expected! Regarding seatbelts, I’m with others that express concerns of lap belts with low back seats. That’s already a compromise in safety, so you need modern 3-point retractors at minimum. Vintage style 4-point belts work great but can be restrictive when cinched up tight… and they NEED to be. Regardless, yer melon won’t be safe in a collision without head restraints no matter which belts you choose. Since you have to source from eBay go with the Simpsons or custom items from Bill Rich.

Unless this car will be tracked, skip the roll hoop and full harness. There’s really no way to properly use the anti-submarine belt with those seats, and as already pointed out a head moves in unimaginable ways during rapid deceleration. Unprotected, it’s usually bad.

Turns out this conversation on belts is very timely for me. I have only lap belts in my GTV and have always rationalized that it’s a fair weather toy and I’m super-careful. Just before this BaT thread I was lurking on a post about three-pointers on the Alfa BB. This settles it for me and 911wagon’s post was exceptionally powerful. Thanks guys!

Cars of this era lack any kind of engineered crash protection and of course no airbags. At a minimum I’d install a 3 point system and because there are no airbags, I’d consider a 4 point system. You owe it to yourselves and any passengers that you have riding along with you. All it takes is an idiot coming the other way, texting while driving.

For my street/track car, back in the day when one beater served both purposes, I installed a Simpson 5 point, but left the stock three point lap belts captured under the loop-bolt things that I installed for the Simpson. That way, if I was in a hurry on the street, or driving guests, rather than skip all but the lap belt on the Simpson, I would just go with the stock three point. For autocrossing or serious driving, the five point was ready to go. Don’t know if the aesthetics would work with what you are doing here, but just an idea.

Project is really coming along nicely! Regarding belts, my first choice would be the stock re-production belts. You just can’t go wrong with those. Second choice would be the vintage Simpson belts. Would love to see this car in Monterey next month. It would really stand out in a crowd of what will likely be close to a thousand Vettes.

Roll bars are designed to be used with helmets. Unless you are going to wear a helmet EVERY time you use the car don’t install one. Street cars with roll bars are more dangerous then ones without. After you have clunked your head just getting in you realize what is this going to feel like at 55MPH.

Simpson belts can only be installed properly with a roll bar to retain the shoulder belt angle. Read the instructions on the belts an you will understand you do not simply put them in the car anywhere they fit. Again they create an unsafe condition.

There are bolt in 3 point kits which are a no brainer as you really do not have much of a race car look anyway?

Call Phil at PS Engineering and get yourself some Trans Am style lug nuts to transform the look of those wheels. Actually when you see his wheels you might want to do a swap.

What a great update and anxiously awaited for it was. The car looks great. After reading all the comments it becomes clear that safety goes for beauty. No sales before safety. Some argue that this car is not a race car, but that doesn’t mean this project can use period correct race technology to enhance its safety up to snuff. Further more this can be incorporated into the interior.

I am no expert, so correct me if I’m wrong, but it seems to me that the roof is made of fibreglass. This is a safety risk in itself. Like driving a convertible without popup headrests. If a single bar can solve both problems of structural integrity and passenger safety the ‘degradation’ of the look doesn’t matter. Maybe the bar can be wrapped in (p)leather as well…I think I’ve seen that on other cars.

As far as Roll Bars in street car go this should not be approached casually. In an accident, seat belts can approximate rubber bands, stock seat mounts can fail, etc. All bad news for an un-helmeted head! This ex-racer would never drive a car with a roll bar with out a helmet…….

The sight of someone’s teenage daughter bleeding profusely from the mouth is seared on my memory. 1965, Vette and a telephone pole. Girl sobbing about her dad’s car. I’d never seen fiberglass splinters. I was 7.

My wife is now a quadriplegic due to failure of that type of buckle in one of my 60’s VWs! In a accident 7 years ago a cell phone distracted driver hit her truck hard in the front right corner. The impact dislodged the clam-shell latch and the result was her being thrown out of the truck and suffering a high cervical spinal cord injury. I’m convinced that this would NOT have happened would she have been using any modern type of positive locking belt…especially a 3 point.

Will this happen to you…most likely not, but we are living proof that it CAN happen and the life changing implications are extremely severe! I employer you to use a positive locking type of belt…authenticity be damned! I wish I would have.

Three points, period. In my group, we all did ‘em in all our rides back in the day; after a few hard corners with them on you were sold, safety issue or no. We were going to live forever. Then a neighbor in a ’65 vette hit a phone pole about 20mph with the 3-point on, reduced the car to fiberglass pile and he walked away. Safety issue noted in brain. No idea how the belts were installed, though. Later, Mercedes modified our car from 2-point to 3-point for free, even though it was a bit rusty, we had bought it second hand, and it took them a week. When we dropped off the car, they showed us a little film how the 3-pointers worked with an actual live human being intentionally driving the test car into the back of a parked one at some considerable speed. Safety issue seared into brain. Respect for said driver also seared. Maybe that film’s on youtube now, worth looking for.

I faced a similar dilemma when fitting another brands circa 63 fiberglass sports car with belts ( belts were an option not standard !) I wanted something sporty , but not obviously new ( 3 inch web looks wrong IMO) . In the day people would get military surplus plane harnesses ( left over WW2 stuff) cool , but not safe – Eventually I got my cake and ate it to – look up Hooker Harness , they do Plane Harnesses – even for vintage warbirds, they also do automotive . Transaction was easy, I called up , asked for 2 inch link and latch with dark grey webbing , they also had used hardware ( not compromised) to give me the patina I was looking for. Very easy , tons of options beyond what i just described – you tell them what you want they make it to spec and when I did it was cheaper than basic black Simpson etc.

I don’t like full cages in street cars, but a bar is good insurance and, as others have said, will help a bit with torsional stiffness.

And with a bar I’d go with 4-point Simpsons. I ran those in a street car for years, with very little nuisance. I had an anti-sub mounted, but rarely used it; its only purpose was to be able to really cinch down the shoulder straps without having the lap belt ride too high, and I found I very rarely cinched down the shoulders to racing tightness.

If I remember correctly, the purpose of this Vette, was a street/strip at ‘day2′ configuration; with that being said, back in the 60’s besides swapping out wheels, what was one of the mods made, simpsons put in for ‘that time we run her hard’. For those advocating against 2 points, I hear your concerns, however, I still run my old (’63-72) trucks with just the lap, and all is well – before you flame me too hard, should we put in airbags (because they have been shown to be safer)? BAT, love the build, you did it right, and I only wish I was in a place to buy it when done, shift surround looks great (I’ve never knew it was factory!).

Based on the way you did the interior either go with the correct repro 63 belts or with a set of repro 67 3 point belts. A small number of 67s were ordered with the 3 point belts and repros are available. I drove new 65 to 67 Corvettes and survived with just lap belts including me T boning a stop sign runner, with no injuries. But if you want 3 point, spend the money with the 67 repros. You then may want to replace with the 63 buckles and have the work done by repro company or someone in the area that does canvas or aircraft work/restorations.

The car looks fantastic! As for belts, go with the new repops or maybe the Simpsons. ‘3 point’ systems are a pain and would foul up the vibe of the interior / whole car. IF you put in a roll bar -period correct of course – THEN you MIGHT consider a 4 point system, otherwise leave it like it was bitd. If ‘modern’ safety [and performance] are the prime considerations, send the car to me and go get a new car. I’ll be happy and you[all] will feel secure.

I vote for Johnny’s SeatBeltsPlus 3 point solution! There are a few concessions that the concourse crowd allows to modern life and seatbelt a are one of them. That and I’ve been in an accident with lap only and wouldn’t wish kissing the horn ring on anybody!

In general, I don’t like Schroth belts. Some of them don’t look safe to me and they all look overpriced.

This car is not orignal. An upgrade to three-points is a good idea. Recently we had an injury to a Big Healey driver that would have been avoided with three-points instead of the lap belt she was wearing. And seriously, danger to driver and passenger is high in street use. I feel a lot more secure in the Stag with repro three-points than I did in the TR4 with only laps.

If you go five- or six- point, use a latch-and-loop for the more vintage look. More trouble to put on, but just think of this as part of the vintage experience.

An any case, recall that often show judges are instructed to ignore seat belts in scoring.

I’m a proponent of roll bars in these resto-mod cars not so much for the safety factor, but because it really improves chassis rigidity. That being said, i don’t think it would look to good in this cabin, and it would be a ton of work to install it properly and cleanly now that the car is mostly back together. So if you can’t get a roll bar in, I’d pass on a 4 or 5 point harness.

I don’t know how you are going to mount a three point either.

So that leaves the 2-point system, which isn’t very good by today’s standards. But since this car will likely have a life of car shows and cruises a 2-point system should probably be good enough.

Now that we are down to stock vs. “vintage” Simpson, I think the Simpson wins on looks.

Would have been cool to say “we were going to have someone else align the wheels but we found a used 4 wheel alignment rig on eBay. It takes up the whole garage but now we can align wheels in just a few minutes”.

You guys have done a great job with this project. The car is not completely stock, but all of your choices have been great. I like to have options. So, as far as the seat belts are concerned, I would buy the restored original belts and the Simspon belts. The restored originals will be better than money in the bank and you can switch back and forth if the intended usage of the car changes or you just want a different look. This has been a great project – what’s next?

If your goal is to reduce the number of potential buyers when you list it on eBay, go with the roll bar, Simpson’s or 3-point retrofit. Otherwise, the repro or original lap belts are the obvious choice. There’s lots of advantages to the other choices, but resale potential is not one of them….and I thought that was the main objective here?

3 point belts, or as many points as you can fit in there! If you are really hung up on originality then get the simpsons or repros for show days. Spend, what like an hour switching out belts for shows? I know it’s a Vette, realistically it is a fiberglass death trap (as many of our beloved cars here are!) but really I can’t push the safety thing enough. As a former bike (pedal) racer I’ve had a couple of seemingly minor concussions, and I’ve discovered it has negatively impacted my working memory. I’ve also recently been diagnosed with Parkinson’s, and at 42 and no similar family history, I have to wonder if it is at all related to head injury as well. So, sorry about the too much personal information here, but to be honest not being able to race my bike anymore got me back into being a car nut, which led to BaT, which is my daily day dream fix, and I really appreciate what you do here, what the community offers, and want you to keep up the great work! 3 point belts!

The vintage Simpsons might feel good and look cool, but they’re not much protection. Neither are the new or restored two-pointers.

You haven’t optimized this car for the track, so the five-point belts would be conspicuously pretender-ish.

The car isn’t old enough for three-pointers to look weird or even restomod.

And assuming that this Vette’s driver is going to have a passenger every now and again, (a) unlike the Simpsons or a five-point belt, a three-point belt doesn’t require a here’s-how-to-belt-in lesson, and (b) unlike any two-point belt, a three-point belt shows some respect for passenger safety.

The car looks awesome! My brother has had a bunch of the mid-year vettes and the stock belts are barely adequate for “normal” driving. The car is not stock anyway, I say go with a rollbar and a 4 point setup. You’ll be safer and it will really add to the experience.

I was going to recommend 3-pointers, as lap belts alone can be problematic in themselves. After reading the comments, I have to agree with Hamsandwich and go with racing equipment. Without a hoop, I wonder about sufficient structure for attachment of a simple shoulder belt.

Simpson belts, unless you decide to go with 3-point. Glad to see that you didn’t opt for (ugly) side exhaust pipes. Curious to know how much weight all of that Dynamat added (Not that we’re counting. This is not a Lotus!)

As a former NCRS judge, please go the vintage Simpsons. This car deserves special treatment. Everyone has a restored vette, most of them are not correct anyway. This one just screams I want to be special…. beside doing donuts in the parking lot or winding hill, will feel much safer…

The car is no longer original so there is no need to go with the stock seat belts. If some serious driving will be done then a hoop and 4 or 5 point is the way to go. Not only will the hoop stiffen up the car but when you start throwing that thing around some corners the racing style belts will be appreciated.

Looks just great! You’ve certainly done it well and done this beauty justice. Looking back, it’s an almost unbelievable transformation. Press on. (and go with a three-point belt; in this case, safety trumps correct for me.) All the best!

Looking good BAT! FWIW, I have a set of “racing” belts like the Simpsons that you link to above in my TR-3. While I don’t mind them in a street car, I’m not sure that I would do it again. For this car, I think that I’d stick with one of the stock-style choices. The aluminum console looks great, good choice.

Awesome to see it running about. As far as seat belts, normally I would say you have to go with the originals. But in this case since the car isn’t strictly stock, I’d opt for the vintage style Simpsons.